On the one-year anniversary of the wrist injury that cost Mark Teixeira most of last season, the first baseman was excited about his first game since June.

After getting only a handful swings against live pitching this spring, who could blame him?

Teixeira was all smiles Wednesday morning as he chatted with a few reporters about his debut, which is scheduled for Thursday in Clearwater against the Phillies. After getting only five or six swings in during a live batting practice on Monday, Teixeira was looking forward to a more productive session Wednesday in advance of his first game.

“I hope to swing a little bit more; that’s the test,” Teixeira said. “It’s not, ‘I took four balls straight and my wrist feels good.’ I want to swing, so I think I’ll do that a little more today.”

He was mistaken.

Teixeira saw five pitches from reliever David Herndon, swinging at only three of them. When pitching coach Larry Rothschild ended the session after 21 pitches, Teixeira called out, “That’s it?”

It’s possible there might have been some confusion as to the timing of Herndon’s simulated game, which Joe Girardi said was slated to begin at 9:25 a.m. with Teixeira and Scott Sizemore as the hitters.